How to fall in love with pre-loved fashion

Entrepreneurs and influencers are thinking up creative ways to make thrift-shopping as enjoyable as buying new outfits

Cherylann Mollan

It’s eco-friendly, cost-effective and looks great on
Instagram. And as thrifting — buying pre-owned clothes, shoes and accessories —
catches on, the hush hush sense of doing something almost embarrassing is
fading.

Instead, young urban Indians are celebrating their thrift
finds online, posting pre-loved #OOTD or outfits of the day. Entrepreneurs and
influencers are handing out e-gift cards and holding auctions and contests; and
organising swap meets where people turn up with goods they no longer use and
exchange them. The goal is to make thrift-shopping as enjoyable as buying new
outfits.

“India has always had a culture of hand-me-downs. But now
people are thrifting by choice. Largely because the world has woken up to the
climate crises and is moving towards sustainability,” says stylist, Tanya
Ghavri. “And also because it’s become fashionable to be ethical and
eco-conscious.”

Spread the word

Bengaluru-based Nikita Almeida, 30, who set up and runs
the website, Collections Reloved, offers customisable e-gift cards as a way to
help boost business and spread the word.

“They’re valid for six months, and I update my
collections every two weeks,” says Almeida. “This means you have access to
about a dozen carefully curated collections.” In these collections are Wendell Rodricks
and Tarun Tahiliani creations, some priced as low as `1,500.

Shimonti Sikdar, 45, a Goa-based restaurateur, discovered
the gift cards when browsing online and immediately bought one for her mother.
“My mom’s cool,” she says, laughing. “She used the `1,000 card to buy a
gorgeous Hidesign bag.”

Delhi-based Afifah Siddiqui, 23, holds virtual auctions
for designer wear via her Instagram store, @TheSalvageStory. People place bids
via direct message. The person placing the highest bid within the fixed time
period is informed privately that they have won, and the item goes from
‘Available’ to ‘Sold’, on the Instagram feed.

“I source my products from thrift shops offline, and
check the authenticity of every branded piece before I list it,” says Siddiqui.
“The find I’m proudest of is a Chanel jacket from a thrift store in Delhi. The
silk lining caught my attention, so I googled the product code on the tag.
Turned out, it was from Chanel’s 2015 spring/summer collection. It sold for
`9,000, double the base price I set.” Still a steal, because when the jacket
hit the market, it was priced at over `3 lakh.

Siddiqui also runs thrifted #OOTD challenges, with the
best look of the day getting an e-gift voucher that can be redeemed against
pre-loved attire from her Instagram store. The winner is picked through popular
vote.

Offline meets

Those are the online experiences. For those who prefer to
shop offline, swap meets are making it easier to find pre-loved apparel.

Bengaluru-based Dhawal Mane, 31, founder of
GreenStitched, which works to promote sustainable fashion, has hosted eight
swap meets in Bengaluru and Mumbai since 2018. People can contribute up to 10
pre-owned garments in exchange for 10 coupons, which can be traded in for
pre-loved items from other participants.

“We try to simulate the experience of shopping in a mall
by segregating garments by size or type and offering trial rooms,” says Mane.
“One time, we set up our ‘Swap Floor’ inside a retail clothes store. The aim is
to remove the stigma around thrift-shopping and present it as a lifestyle
choice.”

If you’d rather not give away a beloved outfit, but
you’re tired of wearing it, there’s another way out too: visible mending.
Pune-based Karishma Sehgal, for instance, has held embroidery workshops in
Chennai and Bengaluru, which she publicises via her Instagram account, (@TheBaksaProject).
These sessions are based on the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, where a flaw
is highlighted so as to make it and the product itself more beautiful.

“The idea is to encourage people to develop a lasting and
meaningful relationship with their clothes,” says Sehgal, 29. “But for reusing
and repurposing to become a mass movement, you need a culture shift. I’m hoping
that initiatives like mine can help make that happen.”